Tuesday, May 9, 2017

dining in the oasis

Have you ever seen anything like this? This glorious feast for more than the just belly is simply called trid, after the thin, transparent sheets of dough that line the plate. Trid is a flour dough that is rolled into little balls, spread onto a flat surface until thinner than paper, then fried on a flat pan. The trid is then rolled and layered to create petals on a plate, topped with fragrant chicken, fried almonds and sultanas, with some hard-boiled eggs for good measure. The dish is communal, and eaten with the hands (always the right hand!) by pulling a petal of trid and rolling it toward the centre of the plate to fill it with a little bit of everything delicious. Not only is it ever so tasty, it's fun to eat too! We shared our trid with some fellow guests at the auberge we were staying at, and an older gentleman with quite the sense of humour.

As Figuig is an oasis of palm trees— once an important stopover for many Moroccans on pilgrimage to Mecca— there were of course, plenty of dates to delight in. I have had all sorts of dates from various parts of the world, but the ones I had this night were undoubtedly my favourite. I was told that they were "fresh", which I took to mean that they were in the early stage of ripening— hence their beautiful golden colour:

This was one of the most memorable dining experiences I have had in Morocco so far. I loved the sweet and savoury combination of the chicken and sultanas, with the soft trid and crunchy almonds— and of course, the dates were gorgeous! Sharing food with fellow travellers and locals alike made it all the better.